Municipal Airport in the U.S. state of Minnesota as he was on his way to a meeting of priest pilots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper reported Thursday, September 30, citing officials and family members.
Rev. Nathan G. Packard, 47, of Chokio, Minnesota, was flying alone in his Cessna 182, and apparently went down shortly after his 5:30 a.m. local time takeoff, the paper quoted the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office as saying.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune said the plane was found late Tuesday in a cornfield, up to two miles (3.2 kilometers) from the runway by searchers called out after Packard’s secretary realized he was missing.
"He was not far from the active runway on the morning that he took off. So something happened in the initial…mile or two from the end of the runway," Stevens County Sheriff Randy Willis told the newspaper.
The weather was generally clear Monday, although there may have been some ground fog, he added.
An emergency beacon, most likely initiated by the crash, was giving off a weak signal when the plane was found, the newspaper said.
FAMILY DEVESTATED
Packard’s family, including four brothers, a sister and his mother, Margaret Packard, were devastated after hearing about the plane crash.
"He surrounded us all with his spiritual love," Margaret Packard of Hualapai, Ariz., told a niece Wednesday, the paper reported. "I feel he touched many lives with his goodness, faith and love."
Packard was reportedly flying to Olathe, Kansas, for his first meeting of the National Association of Priest Pilots, a 42-year-old organization that has 170 members, mostly Catholic priests. The group planned to tour the factory of navigational equipment maker Garmin in Olathe on Monday, said the Rev. Everett Hemann, the group’s president.
Hemann, of Ames, Iowa, said that when Packard did not arrive, he assumed that Packard had changed his mind about coming to the meeting. "It never even crossed my mind to assume anything other than he got hung up at home," Hemann said.
WORRIED CALL
The report said that after a worried call from Packard’s secretary on Tuesday morning, Hemann contacted the Morris Airport and instructed officials to contact the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA contacted authorities in Minnesota about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday with the news that Packard had not closed out his flight plan.
Packard, a member of the Morris Hancock Flying Club, had flown for six years, his family said. "He was out here a lot," added Dorothy Schneider, who works at the Morris airport. "He took his lessons here. I was here when he got his private pilot’s license. He was a very nice guy. I enjoyed having him around," she told the paper.
Packard had been serving as the pastor of the Church of St. Mary in Chokio and the Church of St. Charles in Herman. He previously served as the pastor of the Church of St. Rita in Hillman and the Church of the Sacred Heart in Wahkon.
"This is a deep tragedy for Father Packard’s family, his parishioners and the Diocese of St. Cloud," St. Cloud Bishop John F. Kinney told the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.
Packard was remembered by his siblings Wednesday "as stubborn but lovable and willing to find the best in everyone."
"Nathan had a gift of talking to someone who was down and out and sick, and not judging them," his brother Lester, of Hualapai, told a niece, the newspaper said. It was not immediately clear what funeral arrangements had been made.
